Vanderbilt overcomes foul line woes for one-point victory

In a contest in which both teams struggled to hit free throws, Jeffery Taylor’s foul shot with six seconds to play lifted Vanderbilt to a come-from-behind 65-64 victory at Alabama on Wednesday.

Taylor missed the first of his two attempts after Alabama’s Tony Mitchell fouled him along the baseline. Following a Crimson Tide timeout, the sophomore made the second.

Alabama’s Anthony Brock missed a running shot in the lane as time expired.

Taylor was 5-for-9 from the line in the game, and the Commodores (13-3, 2-0 in the SEC) were 20-for-37 (54.1 percent) as a team.

Alabama (11-5, 1-1) made just 10 of 17 (58.8 percent), but two by JaMychal Green tied the score 64-64 with 35 seconds to play.

Ten seconds earlier, Jermaine Beal’s jumper made it 64-62 and gave Vanderbilt just its third lead of the night. The first time it went in front was when John Jenkins’ 3-pointer made it 51-48 with 9:40 to go. A Taylor layup made it 53-52 with 7:56 remaining, but Alabama scored seven of the next nine points.

The Crimson Tide scored the first nine points of the contest and led throughout the first half. Brock’s 3-pointer with eight seconds left gave Alabama a 35-28 halftime lead.